Published: May 09, 2008 01:45 pm            

In time of trouble, cling to Christ | FERN YARNICK

BY FERN YARNICK

FYARNICK@YAHOO.COM

“ ... and on this rock I will build my church ...

Matthew 16:17

One of the worst floods recorded in American history happened in May 1889 in Johnstown.

Many accounts of sadness, heartache and bravery have been told and retold through the years following the flood.

After the floodwaters receded, descriptions of the dead were distributed among the survivors hoping that the bodies could be identified.

One of my ancestors received the following:

“Child about three years, small pock above right eye (in eyebrow), well-trimmed bangs. Only clothing was gauze knit undershirt, short sleeves. A piece of a house found floating on the same spot had a street board marked Front Street.”

Front Street was near the railroad tracks in Conemaugh.

When the South Fork Dam broke, it ravaged the countryside and then headed down the valley toward Conemaugh.

The flood devastated everything in its path and very little escaped the huge wall of water.

One account described it as “an avalanche composed of more than 100,000 tons of rocks, locomotives, freight cars, car trucks, iron, trees and other material pushed forward by 16,000,000 tons of water at the rate of a mile a minute.”

As the mass of destruction moved toward Johnstown, one of the buildings in its path was the Methodist Church.

The wall of water slammed into the church with terrific force.

However, the building stood strong while the water split into two directions.

A man standing in the window of a house nearby cried out, “We have been saved by the Methodist Church!”

He was wrong.

He was saved by the solid foundation.

The church withstood the flood, but time, age and the elements will someday crumble the building.

However, that foundation will last forever, for it is the solid rock of Christ.

Floods of disappointment, illness and heartache can cloud horizons at times, yet when our faith clings to that solid rock, we can hold on and hold out.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.